Symphony projects $110,000 deficit

The Richmond Symphony projects a $110,000 shortfall on an operating budget of $4.66 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year ending June 30, its board was told this week at the orchestra’s annual meeting.

In the 2008-09 fiscal year, the symphony ran a deficit of about $150,000 on a $4.75 million budget.

In the orchestra's 2009-10 season, its first at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, attendance rose by 30 percent for the Altria Masterworks series and by 35 percent for the Genworth Financial Pops series. (The previous season’s Masterworks concerts were staged in three church sanctuaries, and pops concerts in the Landmark Theater.)

The new Lollipops series of concerts for children and families, also at the Carpenter Theatre, drew crowds more than three times as large as those attending the family-formatted dates of the former Kicked Back Classics series. Metro Collection concerts, featuring a chamber orchestra playing in suburban venues, saw a 6 percent rise in attendance.

The orchestra announced a new pledge of $100,000 from the Pauley Family Foundation in support of general operations and to encourage contributions to its "2010: Transformation Campaign," which seeks to attract 2,010 new donors this year. A $50,000 challenge grant from Gerald Morgan Jr. so far has attracted more than 200 new supporters, the symphony reported in a news release.

Carmen Rodriguez, corporate strategy leader with the Richmond Federal Reserve, and Joyce Clemmons, new president of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra League, were elected to the symphony board. Suzanne Franke, Carol Hoomquist, Gail Letts, Bob Mattauch, Brenda Mead and Sarosh Sukhia retired from the board.